The first collaborative post of She’s Just my Sister is finally here! We thought, in addition to us posting individually about all of our adventures, we would do a collaborative post and all reflect on the same topic once a month. In honor of the 5th sister officially being a Magee, our first post is about the wedding!

To give you guys perspective from all of us, we thought we would post a few questions each and give our answers here! Thanks for reading and follow us for all of our adventures!

Love, The Sister Crew

Q: What was your favorite part of the wedding weekend?

C: There were so many moments that I will always remember that it’s hard to choose so I’m giving my top two. Definitely the moment where I felt like I got hit by a truck filled with emotion (in a good way) was when they opened the doors to the church and I saw Ryan. They had me stand alone for a hot second (my dad opened one of the doors) and everyone turned and looked and it was just so incredibly overwhelming (again, in a good way) and emotional that I’ll never forget the moment I realized it was all happening and I could not have been happier! My second is when they invited everyone on the dance floor at the reception. Our band, Brena Band (who’s unreal), played “Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews Band as their opening song and literally 10 seconds into it, I turned around and EVERYONE was on the dance floor. One of my main concerns was everyone not having a good time so seeing that gave me chills and just warmed my heart.

T: There’s not much I love more than a wedding.. Except maybe a family wedding! Having a family as large as ours, it is tough to get the entire gang in one place at the same time. Well, invite 50+ Magees to an island with an open bar and some wedding bells and you can expect to find us tearing up the dance floor. I’m actually pretty positive the dance floor was about one person away from busting through the floor! I am still dreaming about dancing around in a circle surrounded by all of my family and closest family friends. All of these people made the weekend that much more dreamy. Oh, and the fudge, of course.

Ma: My favorite part of the wedding weekend was walking down Main St. and seeing at least 6 groups of people we knew every time. The Magee-Casey families took over the island! Between friends and family staying on Main St., our uncles boats docked in the marina, and Christine’s grandparents waterfront property (Brigadoon), we were constantly running into familiar smiling faces. It was really neat to see all of our loved ones gathered on the island to celebrate our newest favorite married couple! Being a part of two families coming together is magical and I’m so happy I could witness it all. My second favorite memory was watching mom dance with Ryan for the mother-son dance. At the very end, she busted out our dad’s famous (horrendous) basketball dance moves. My dad’s jaw hit the floor as he pointed at her like “That’s my wife!” I nearly fell out of my seat laughing.

R: Oh, family and having vacation from work. My sisters have already beautifully articulated how great it was to be with the whole fam for this week so I want to talk more about the Island and the vacation. If you’ve never been to Mackinac Island drop everything and book your stay for summer 2017, because everything’s booked solid for this year! The island is without cars and has the most beautiful beaches mixed with the quaint downtown, which as my dad pointed out, makes it magical in a Disney kind of way. We loved taking the ferry and riding on carriages. Of course it’s great that the island is small enough to walk but why walk when you can ride bikes? Finally, it would be a minor tragedy if no one mentioned the fudge! I think I need to have Mackinac Island Fudge shipped to us on a monthly basis!

Me: While every little bit of the masterpiece that was Ryan and Christine's wedding week on Mackinac was perfect, I can't help but have a few parts that stick out in my mind. In true Magee fashion, I am all about the laid back, casual family time. For this reason, I loved our pre-wedding festivities pizza dinner. Without worrying about what we looked like, who we were talking to, or even what we were talking about, the immediate family ate pizza with Tigers baseball playing in the background. Although having all 12 of us under the same roof is a rarity, it felt like just another Wednesday night hanging out with all my favorite people. That being said, I also love a dance party just as much as the next girl. The moment the band started blaring Dave Matthews Band (one of my favorite bands thanks to Ryan) and the dance floor was packed in an instant, I knew this wedding was one for the books. Looking around and seeing everyone- whether they were my closest friend/sister or new acquaintance- so perfectly and incandescently happy (-Jane Austen) created one of those moments where you take a picture in your brain, but would never dare to even touch your phone because any attempt to share that joy with anyone else would be a harsh injustice to reality. If you haven't learned this about me yet, it is the little things- the fractions of a second- that make what you could call "my favorite moments". Witnessing Ryan and Christine's love and commitment in such a perfect place surrounded by such lovely people is what made the event everything I have unsuccessfully tried to put into words here.

Q: Rylee, how was it handling a 10 month old while being on an island with no cars and being part of the bridal party?

Q: Christine, there was so much sentimental value involved in your wedding weekend. Can you talk about how that made your wedding even more magical?

C: I’ve always been a sentimental person so the fact that so many aspects had further meaning just made our day that much more special. For those of you who don’t know, I wore my mom’s dress (altered and modernized a touch), my parents got married on the island 25 years ago, my mom got ready at my grandparents’ house- the same place I got ready, the carriage Ryan and I rode in was the same carriage my parents rode in (owned by my grandfather) and the horses that pulled our carriage were my grandparents’ horses. So yeah, there was a lot of emotions :) I think one aspect of this that I will cherish forever is that we did a lot of duplicate photos- so I posed in similar bridal portraits that my mom did and Ry and I did some of my mom’s favorite photos from her wedding day and those side-by-side images are absolutely something I will cherish everyday.

Q: Meghan, you shared the pull-out couch with Ryan (the groom) the night before the wedding, can you explain some of that excitement?

Me: While I wasn't so appreciative at the time, I was the lucky girl who got to share the pull out couch with the groom the last night of his bachelorhood. I stayed awake reading until he got home from yet another night of entertaining, and made a comment about how I felt bad that he probably would not be well-rested for his big day after sleeping on this wretched couch. He responded selflessly that he didn't mind, and I continued to read my book. Ryan broke the silence by saying, "Meghan, the next time I see Christine she will be walking down the aisle." I don't exactly remember what my response was, but it was undoubtedly inadequate for the situation, probably sounding like, "wow that's crazy." We talked about our excitement for the following day and perhaps more importantly their upcoming life together. Ryan did the classic big brother thing and gave me advice about my own dating/future spouse. I have known for a long time that Ryan and Christine were perfect for each other from the way they make each other laugh to the little holes they fill in for each other. It wasn't really until this sleepy realization though, that it really clicked that Ryan had found the love of his life, and how exciting of an experience that must be. Ryan urged me (a hopelessly single college student) to have trust and to persevere. He explained that he had gone through break ups in which he felt at the time that he lost someone who was good for him, but of course, "when you know, you know." He reminded me that there is someone out there who will make me feel like Christine makes him feel. He told me exactly what I needed to hear. He doesn't know this (yet), but as I laid on that couch facing away from him with the covers pulled up to my face, I was crying. Not crying because I was losing a brother, but because I was gaining a sister who I knew was going to make him happier than anyone else could. And because it was possible that I could have the same experience.

Q: Rylee, can you tell us about the tradition that was started at your and Tim’s rehearsal dinner and how it was incorporated into Ryan and Christine’s weekend?

R: This one is a favorite. And I am so glad that Ryan enjoyed it enough to request it at this rehearsal dinner. The tradition comes from Tim's side and as is true with most family traditions, the origin is not entirely clear and could be debated. That said, it is tradition in all weddings for the father of the bride, maid-of-honor, and best man to toast the bride and groom at the wedding reception, but his family wanted to open this up to all the other family and close friends who have a role in the ceremony. At the rehearsal dinner the floor is open to whomever would like to toast the couple and as tradition would go, it turns into more of an anecdotal roast. So Cheers! To that one night in college or to those awkward teenage wardrobe choices.

Q: Maddie, what was your favorite part of the getting ready process before the wedding ceremony?

Ma: Christine had the cutest gift idea for her bridesmaids. We each received matching monogrammed button up shirts and comfy Aerie shorts to get ready in. It was so fun to do wedding prep together, as it was mostly time to lounge around, veg out on some delicious snacks, and dance and sing along to classic wedding day tunes! My most favorite part was when Christine opened Ryan’s gift and read the letter he had written her. There was not a dry eye in the room, and I was reminded again why Ryan and Christine are perfect for each other.

Thanks so much for reading our emotional/sappy/long-winded answers so we could just relive such a great weekend :) Thanks for stopping by and you should definitely come back soon. We promise to keep the posts shorter from now on :)